Battles She Fought
by Aberrant Bliss
Summary: The past finds its way into their lives, and while they once thought they would welcome it, they find that it creates more conflict than good. War that took away his parents. Agendas of the omnipotent that took away hers. The fight for Hyrule begins again, but this time, there's no bad guy. Sequel to Look What She's Done and And She Waited.
1. Another Turn of the Cycle

Hello! Welcome!

This story is the third installation in the And She Waited series. It is preceded by _And She Waited _and _Look What She's Done_. However, this story differs from the first two, and I really intend for anyone to be able to read it even if you haven't read the first two. But it might make a bit more sense if you have. I dunno, your call. :)

I love putting a song or two at the beginning of each chapter that really either inspires the events or matches the tone of the chapter, so if you are interested, maybe it'd be cool if you listened as you read. :)

Anyway, here it is! :) Hope you will enjoy!

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**Battles She Fought**

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**Chapter 0 **

**Another Turn of the Cycle. ("The Iron Sea" by Keane)**

**February 17****th****, 2011 (222 HT)**

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"You need to come with us."

She looked up with weary eyes at several similarly dressed soldiers. She didn't protest. They took her arms when the door creaked open, held her until she was secured with heavy cuffs that glistened in the dim light, then guided her from the dungeon cell. She wasn't meant for this.

She had to admit that she was doing her best to ignore his protests from the next cell over. He was yelling fiercely, vulgarly, in ways she hadn't heard him yell before. He was a noble creature, and such things did not usually pass his pure lips. Especially in such a strained, crackling voice. In that moment, she really wished she could just be the person she was supposed to be. But she was quick to tear up, exacerbated by the fact that she was sure she was being led away to speak words which would ultimately betray Hyrule.

Ordinarily, this wouldn't be a situation he _couldn't_ get out of. He was stronger than them. He was braver, more intelligent and battle-minded. But for some goddess known reason, he couldn't beat these people. Their weapons were too deadly, the circumstances were too twisted. She had to ask the goddesses _why_, again. But they never answered her. Anymore.

"Andrew just wants to speak with you, Queen Zelda. Please don't look so glum."

She ignored the soldier's voice and turned to face her only ally in the room as she left her cell, his frame stuck behind shadows of rusted iron and oppression.

Defeated.

That had never been a word to describe him. However, that was just how he looked now. Defeated.

She was angered as she wondered how their _hero_ could ever be treated like this. How could one even justify this? The one who had been handed such a cruel fate should not be forced to continue saving the world, nor should he be imprisoned when it was clear he hadn't done anything but try to save his world once again. He was just a prisoner of war. A war she thought she'd caused, no matter how inadvertently.

The cycle of their life continued.

There was nothing she could do but stare at him for as long as could, while some force propelled her feet in the other direction. She couldn't even call his name in comfort, nor could he. They couldn't be themselves in this moment. There was just one thing she wanted to say to him, but she wasn't sure which language to use. Whether she expressed herself in Hylian or English, her proclamation wouldn't be in her true voice. She chose English in her hurried decision. It would be the closest, and she thought it might make the soldiers feel some sort of pity.

"_I love you._"

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**So, anyone familiar with the previous story, are you confused? :D  
(In case you were wondering/didn't remember, ASW takes place in March-May 2007 and LWSD in April-May [and November] 2008.)**


	2. Identity

**Chapter I**

**Identity. ("****Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14" by Rachmaninoff)**

**February 17th, 2011 (222 HT) continued**

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She had reason to believe that these soldiers were being gentler and more respectful because they were higher ranked. Their crisp, clean uniforms were different from the ones worn by the soldiers guarding the cells. They even carried thin, short swords at their sides, unlike the others.

What were they doing to the castle, she wondered? She felt some pang of anger as she imagined them snooping or otherwise ruining it to bring it to their own standards. This place was so familiar to her: the way the light pattering sound of her feet echoed down the corridor, the slightly uneven gray, cobbled floor, the random statues she couldn't hope to identify decorating coves and crevices. Here was the place she had spilled her tea because Luke had decided to jump out and scare her. There was the place Link had found her crying and had comforted her until she was able to stand on her own again.

There was even a lingering smell of savory food, though she couldn't imagine the last time something had been cooked here. Where was everyone that had worked here? She felt concerned for them, for people she knew well, like Granice the cook, and the many guards. How were they getting paid? She couldn't understand.

It seemed they were heading to the throne room, or at least in that general direction. All the governmental parts of the castle were located along this hallway. Luke's office, Umom's office. Either was a goldmine of information about Hyrule and its secrets, and for these people to find such information would undoubtedly prove detrimental to the country. She harbored some hope, however, that Luke might have removed or otherwise expunged anything that could be used to hurt Hylians.

With the thought of Luke, her heart sank. Where was he? She hoped he finished doing what he needed to do soon, because affairs here were not quite going as planned. They turned a corner and she did indeed find herself near the throne room, one of its heavy doors propped open. The other was closed, though, transforming it into something more foreboding than what they had left it as.

They led her through the door. There was a man standing across the room there, looking down at a few papers laid out on a table. Dressed in a decorated uniform, he was saying something to a man standing across from him, who nodded. The first man signed the papers and handed them off to the other, who then walked by, glancing at her from the corner of his eye on the way.

The first man looked to her and smiled politely. "Good day, Your Majesty," he said, bowing slightly as he moved from behind the table. He was familiar, and she was certain he was one of the men she had met a few weeks ago, when they had first come to Hyrule.

_Your Majesty_? She wondered who had taught him to bow like so, since no one _ever_ bowed to Zelda except when they were wishing to brown nose her (and that didn't ever succeed). Her thoughts swam to times when she was younger, when she might have wished to be treated this way, to really be a princess or a queen. But it hadn't been possible. Now that it _was_ like this, she found her position to be complicated and draining.

She nodded in return to his greeting, not quite feeling it in her to smile, given that two men still held her cuffed arms.

"Ah, oh, sorry about this. You can free her," he said to the guys holding her. She stood taller, trying to act as regal as she knew how; she was emulating what she thought a queen would act like in his eyes. Perhaps she was attempting to scare or intimidate him a bit as they freed her arms.

He nodded again to everyone else, and the men with the frightening weapons seemingly all filed out, closing the giant door with a loud creak. She knew this room like it was her own home, because it _had_ been part of her home for a long time. With these foreign people situated here, it was different. She briefly wondered what was so wrong with Hyrule that it kept getting taken over, in ways Zelda couldn't prevent or perhaps hadn't the ability to protect against.

It was a very long room and they were separated by a short distance. He walked a few steps to her, dragging a chair along and spinning it around to her. "Please have a seat," he said, gesturing to the wooden chair, leaning his body forward as he did so in another slight bow. It was one from the tables Zelda had filled the room with when she'd turned the throne room into more of a center for the government of Hyrule.

She sat gracefully (though part of her wished she was wearing nicer clothes that would fit her projected refined façade), watching him carefully. He turned his back to her as he went to get a chair for himself.

"I'm truly sorry for the restraints, Your Majesty. It is for your own protection more than anything, I can assure you."

She turned her head to the side, narrowing her eyes. Not believing him for a moment, because she couldn't imagine how that had been protecting _her_. In fact, imprisoning her sounded outright ridiculous by this reasoning.

Not responding to his preposterous excuses directly, she raised her voice. "Please, call me Zelda." It was something Zelda had spoken a thousand times to the most varied collection of men and women alike. It never failed to baffle and fluster them a tiny amount.

But this man, Andrew, he was unabashed. "Very well, then, Zelda." He did sound skeptical, though. "The reason why we have brought you here is actually complicated, but I intend to explain fully to you, because you certainly deserve that."

She nodded slightly.

"As you know, we arrived here about a month ago, yes? We intended only to learn about your culture. I was involved, in league with our armed forces, because the government knew we couldn't only send in scientists and expect complete peace for them. I was _hoping_ that would be the case, but we weren't received well."

She shot him a glance, which probably came across as more irate than it needed to be. "That is not true."

"I was glad to have met you, that first time in the inn. I'm sure you have more important things to remember, but you did act kindly to me. However, I did expect this, since you are a very just queen and I've never heard an ill word spoken about you. It was evident, though, from the moment you stepped in with your companion that other Hylians weren't going to welcome us as much. Meghan Navi was her name, if I remember correctly,"

"You cannot base your judgment of the Hylian people on the behavior of one girl, just as you could not base it solely on my own. That girl in particular has gone through many things which cause her to question the actions of many. I brought her along because of her inability to be swayed by niceties and formalities. She sees the truth in people." She was, of course, fabricating all these details. As far as she knew, none of them were true. It sounded convincing, though, in her mind. _The real reason why she'd been there…_

"I see," he began, staring her straight into her eyes. She straightened again, staring right back. Link had once described her eyes as disconcerting, when she stared with them like this. With any luck, all these actions were actualizing her plan to daunt Andrew. "Your Majesty, Zelda, let me explain our reasons for being here. We are _always_ curious about other cultures. We want to know everything, because there is always a chance that something we learn in other places could help us in our own country. Furthermore, there is always something that _we_ can bring to others, to help them improve as well. Here, we've found promise on either side. We want to work together with you, Hyrule, to bring you to a more advanced age, where you can benefit from our more advanced technology and scientific knowledge."

"I would like to respectfully reject your aid. Our people are curious, inquisitive, and innovative, and frankly, we would like to figure things out for ourselves. I can only see destruction and ruin lying in the wake of hastened advancement."

"But would you deny healthcare advancement that would save the lives of your people? Would you reject the technology that would lower the cost of and time spent doing work you are currently toiling away at?"

The medical care bit slashed her in her weak spot—how _could_ she reject that? She scrambled for something intelligent to say in quick return, not wanting to go back on her own words, but not wanting to sound cruel. Zelda wouldn't let unnecessary people die. "Then give us your medical knowledge and be done with it."

"That could be done, and in theory we wouldn't ask for anything in return. However, there is something we're interested in, and for this we may need to remain in Hyrule."

She raised an eyebrow. _May need to?_ Why were they so arrogant? But she internally slapped herself. Told herself to stop with the judgment. Let him elaborate.

"There is something here that seems to give you a little edge over us. Some kind of power supply that allows you to heal, or create things. I've heard from the people that you, Zelda, are quite proficient with using this. The people here call it _magic,_ spell casting. But as with everything, we know there is an explanation behind it, and you are the one who knows it. If _we_ had the power to heal like they say _you_ can, our country would be a hundred times better off. And energy is a problem in our country. If we could have limitless power, as the Hylian people say it is, we would…" He shook his head in wonder. "It would just be the answer to so many problems. I ask you to share this with us."

So now he was questioning _magic_. Magic, she had come to learn, was best not questioned. Magic was something that just _was_. So it sounded rather ridiculous to her that he wanted to harness such a thing.

"Do you believe in gods, Andrew?" she asked him.

For a moment, he thought she might be changing the subject, but he decided to indulge her, having the idea that a supposed wise and weathered queen like her would go off on tangents to round the conversation and drive her point home. "I am a god-fearing man," he responded with a blink.

"If you believe in gods, then you believe in magic," she said simply. "You cannot uncouple the two."

"But I have always learned that you must. Godly power is something that we lesser beings cannot ever duplicate. Godly power is not magic. Magic is not real."

"Well, if you want to understand Hyrule, you must understand this. Our magic is goddess-given. The power of the goddesses is the source of all our strength and they have chosen to give their magic to the people, to those who will use it. This is not a power _source_. It is not something you can harvest. It is something that, with privilege, one can learn to manipulate and control, but it cannot be used in the ways you describe."

His lips were tightly pressed together during her story, and she could only imagine that he was having the same disbelieving thoughts she'd had during some things he had said. It didn't seem as though the conversation was going well, in this aspect, since neither thought the other was speaking well-informed and honest words. She figured that while she was on this roll, she had better continue with the entire story before he stopped her.

Because he needed to realize what Hyrule really was.

"Have the Hylian people told you of our goddesses, they way they told you about our magic? Our ancient lore and legends?"

"I've only learned a little. The researchers know more than I do."

"Well, this is something you need to know, Andrew," she said, moving her hands to rest peacefully in her lap.

"If I must, please explain," he said, gesturing to her, still retaining his air of misgiving as they stared each other down. Perhaps her idea of disturbing him with her blue eyes wasn't working on him…

She took a deep breath, briefly contemplating how to start. Though she knew the stories well, she was not as proficient at narrating them as the Sheikah were.

"The three Golden Goddesses created Hyrule countless years ago. Nayru of Wisdom, Din of Power, and Farore of Courage all bestowed their greatness upon the land, creating us and all the creatures that now populate this terrain. They departed to the heavens, but they left one relic, one last bit of their godliness, to the inhabitants of Hyrule. We call this the Triforce."

Something lit up in his eyes. "Yes, I've heard about that."

"The Triforce represents that holy trinity of traits—wisdom, power, and courage. And the Triforce rested in a place where it was technically able to be accessed by our people, but would take a great deal of work to get to." Her wording was far from the glib speech she had hoped for, but it would get the point across. "More than ten years ago, an evil man decided he wanted the strength of the goddesses to fulfill his awful goal to take over this world. I will never understand why, but he was so bent on this goal that he was able to trick me into getting him into the resting place of the Triforce."

Andrew now stared with a blank look, because this was clearly where the story became decidedly absurd. It seemed he was just tolerating her storytelling, just letting her talk if it caused her to be satisfied with herself.

She started again with new vigor, putting much effort into her words to prevent herself from lapsing into ineloquent ramblings. "But the problem with possessing the Triforce is that in order to do so, you must have the three holy traits in balance, within yourself, or else you cannot obtain it and the Triforce will split in three. The evil man was far from wise, and in fact was rather impulsive and brash. He was also a _coward_, I would say, since when he had no power left, he picked on the weak just to…just to…get revenge…"

There were terrible images that flooded through her mind then, pictures of blood and death and pain and misery, and Andrew could see that she had visibly slowed down.

"Luckily," she continued after a deep and nearly shuddering breath, "We had a savior, who not once, but _twice_ defeated this great evil. When the Triforce split, our Hero of Time received the Triforce of Courage. No one is like him. So this is why I say that you cannot harvest the power of the goddesses. You cannot use magic the way you want to, because that evil man already set a precedent against using magic in that way. Magic should be used to bring balance to the world—_never_ to upset it."

"I'm willing to bet that the last part of your Triforce—wisdom, was it?—went to either you or the king."

Well, here was the dilemma. Tell him that she possessed the Triforce of Wisdom, and who knew _what_ he would do with that information. Tell him that Luke possessed it, and that would bring on a whole slew of problems for both Link and Luke. Because she didn't find either answer to be a suitable one, she decided to go for neither.

"As much as I wish that one of us possessed it, neither of us do. It went to a young girl who uses her wisdom for a greater good."

Andrew gave a small, remorseful smile. "Zelda, I'm afraid this is where I might have caught you in a lie."

"What?" she asked sharply, barely refraining from snapping. "This is not a lie. Neither I nor my husband possess the Triforce of Wisdom."

"That I may believe, but I don't believe that in a world where someone has been given divine wisdom by…" he tilted his head as though the words were so appalling he couldn't say them, "_goddesses_, that person would not be the leader."

"You can't assume something like that. They are very modest people, knowing the consequences of vanity like the evil man had. Just as she declined a position of leadership—and believe me, I would have given it to her—our hero declined any sort of reward or recognition for his deeds. He only accepted such a thing after I'd nearly blackmailed him." Zelda had, indeed, needed to resort to desperate measures to get Link to accept his dukedom. He wouldn't even tolerate being called his proper title, Hero of Time. However, he hadn't been _blackmailed_ (just subjected to a ton of begging). "And you misunderstand-the Triforce pieces do not grant magic. They merely augment existing traits and abilities."

"Well, all right," he said in a challenging way. He stood then, and she became scared and wanted to stand as well. She reminded herself, however, _be an_ _intimidating queen_, and stayed sitting, maintaining her regal posture. He went to the table behind him and picked up a few papers. "As you will remember, you were found running from us, within our own country." He sat back down in his chair, the papers in his hands, but she couldn't see what was on them. Somewhere in the background, a clock ticked the seconds away as he observed the documents for a moment. She swallowed, waiting for him to continue. He finally looked up. "After we took custody over you, you were sleeping for a while."

"We were knocked out," she said accusingly, vaguely remembering some sort of needle poking her skin.

"Again, I must insist it was for your own protection, my queen. But, we were able to observe a few things about you and the king while you were transported back here." He held out a paper to her. "This is an artist's rendition of what was observed on your husband's, the king's, hand."

On the paper was a simply colored sketch of the back of a hand, with a Triforce lightly laid out upon it.

"Please forgive the crude evidence. We weren't able to capture it using other methods. It didn't seem to show up."

"So you admit it's real," she said, knowing she'd been caught in some sort of lie. No, this wasn't good. She couldn't start betraying Hyrule like this. This couldn't happen.

"So you admit that the king is the one who possesses the Triforce of Wisdom?" he countered.

"No, he does not. I don't know where you would have seen this."

"As I said, it was observed on the hand of your husband during transport."

She took a deep breath, not knowing what to say, or how to convince him otherwise. Because if it was clear that this was the Triforce to him, and if they had seen it, she couldn't refute them.

"The king's office—it's right down the hallway, isn't it? It's an interesting place."

Her stomach flipped, and her worst fears seemed to have been realized. They must have gotten all of Luke's information.

"It was empty, except a few items which I believe were purposefully left to be misleading."

It was all she could do to stop herself from sighing in relief. How could she have doubted Luke? Even if this castle was taken over, he would have been able to swoop in and reclaim everything, or otherwise destroy it. His lifelong training as a spy before he became king was not for naught.

"However, there were some things that even the most capable swindlers cannot feign. Tell me, Zelda, do you believe in science?"

She nearly guffawed, and it was obvious he was paralleling what she'd asked him before. "Science is not something one believes in. Science just exists."

"Well, then I'm glad. Sometimes religious folk are against it, for whatever reason." He looked down to his papers thoughtfully again. "My queen, are you aware that every single person in the world…has a distinct set of fingerprints? Even identical twins. So, as you could imagine, using fingerprints is a good starting point for identifying or distinguishing people."

"I certainly know how fingerprints are used. You mistake my country for something primitive."

He handed her a sheet of paper, two ink blots in the shape of finger prints, and her heart fell even farther into her stomach. Of course she knew what fingerprints were…but she'd never thought to tell Luke about them. She cursed herself. But how could she have known?

"On your left are King Lukas's prints from his office, and on your right, his prints taken during transport yesterday. It's detailed below, but as you can see from just looking, they are visibly different."

"Are you trying to prove that the man you captured with me is not Lukas? You do realize this isn't reliable, right? Many people are welcomed within Luke's office. Fingerprints are not a completely accurate means of identification, both because it's possible these aren't his, and because they are open to interpretation."

"That is true. I chose to explain this to you using fingerprints because I felt it would be easiest for you understand. We have other methods of identifying people which _are_ accurate, I can assure you." She was absolutely offended by how simple he thought she was, but she hadn't the energy left to dwell on that. "And I will tell you this now, Zelda. That man in the dungeon is _not_ King Lukas."

She still stared down at the prints, her eyes gliding over the words written on the page, but not comprehending any of it. Her breathing was shallow and quick, her heart beating quickly. She begged her brain to speed up, move faster, and find a way out of this, but she was running out of reasonable response time. Anything she said past that point would be easily identified as fictitious information.

"Of course, now, this begs the question, who is he? I've already showed you that we know he is in possession of a Triforce. This leaves the options of the already defeated evil man, which I figure is unlikely since he was defeated and, well, evil. So that leaves the hero of which you spoke."

All right, so maybe they figured out that Link was only pretending to be Luke to protect Zelda. Was that so bad? It might have been better, actually. They couldn't catch Luke before he carried out his plans, no matter how hard they tried. She was sure of it. So _they_ were safe, at any rate. She and Link would just need to hold out until then.

"It _does_ make sense. I believe that since you are so convinced that running away from us is the best thing for your country, you two, you and the king, would not only want to separate yourselves, you would need some protection, right?"

She didn't nod or answer in any way, still trying to find that perfect thing to say that would disprove everything he'd said. She was clinging to the hope that he'd consider _some_ of her story, at least, but she wasn't sure whether she was a convincing liar.

"Though I'm confused. I won't pretend to understand royalty fully, or your country, for that matter, but it had _seemed_ to me that marriage was held in the same regard here as it is in my own country. But, as it seems from reports I've gotten, there seems to be some sort of _affection_ between you and the 'hero.' If we are correct, his name is Link Navi, and his wife is that _lovely_ lady Meghan we met at the inn a month ago. Do you remember how you described her?"

When she merely stared at him, her facial muscles twitching to prevent a scowl from forming, he continued. "You said you regarded her as your sister. Quite a cruel thing to do to someone you are so close to, isn't it?"

At that point, she wished to the _holy goddesses above_ that she could just reach forward and slap this man. Instead, her grip just tightened on the papers she still held in her hands, crumpling them around the corners, maybe making a slight tear at the edges. He plucked the papers from her hands, stood so he was far from her reach, placed the papers back on the table, and continued his awful story.

"I would understand if it was because you were trying to convince us that you really _were_ the king and queen. It didn't seem that way, though. The small kisses to comfort one another, squeezing hands together. It wasn't an act, was it, Zelda? Would you tell me, right now, that this is normal for Hylians? To actively betray a spouse and desecrate not one, but two marriages in the process?"

He knew he was riling her up. He knew with his increasingly accusatory words, she was growing angrier by the second. But for what purpose? What was he trying to prove? She tried not to let this get to her, because even if he spoke true words, they were simultaneously _not true._

"You don't know what you're dealing with in Hyrule," she said in a strained voice, one which struggled to keep emotion in check. Her fists were clutched tightly.

"Since King Lukas _does_ have that holy wisdom, I'm sure he'll understand, won't he, Zelda? And that girl, Meghan…" He looked at her for a moment, carefully regarding her eyes. "Gosh, she couldn't have been a day older than twenty. In all her 'truth seeing' capability, she'll know that this is all right and good. All this adultery and infidelity. I'm sure it's what she wanted. Isn't it, Zelda?"

She stood then. He was still standing by the table. She had the urge to knock the chair between them out of the way. By some miracle, she didn't do that. He didn't look frightened by the menacing way she'd stood. "Don't worry, Your Majesty. I won't tell anyone," he said in a deceivingly soft voice. As though she could trust him. "Just have the king come to us. No one will ever know your secrets, unless you want them to."

"What do you want from Luke anyway?" she asked, again in her strained voice. "You initially admitted that I was the one with the magic. I am the one with the knowledge. You know this."

"I have mentioned that we want to investigate the Triforce power. I know you believe that goddesses granted this power, but let me tell you, there is science in _everything_. You've just given me all the information about it that I needed from you. I think your King Lukas may be the one who can help us understand, though. We would never do so violently, of course. Please don't fear for his safety."

"But you would _blackmail_ us?"

"Regrettably, our country has seen better moments. But we've also gone to war over pettier and less promising things. By doing this to you now, I'm making sure that everything happens peacefully. Unfortunately, there always has to be some sort of incentive. And even more regrettably, I am acting under orders that I can't disobey, so I really am sorry for this."

She was shaking. Angry and shaking, and she knew that she was going to start making rash decisions. There was no other way out of this. "Luke isn't the one with the Triforce of Wisdom. I am."

He gave a sad smile. "I'm sorry, but you can't expect me to believe that. Your actions have been far from the level of wisdom I thought they were supposed to be. I've witnessed decisions made by the king. He isn't a fool, for sure," he said, his hand on the table behind him. "Your decisions, however…"

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**So? Who do you think these invaders are? Why are they accusing her of these things? :D **

**Yeah, so it took me a long time to figure out what was exactly right for this chapter. I spent literally the whole day on this. XD In the original version of this scene which I wrote in between my class notes in 2008, the conversation between her and Andrew was a lot angrier. They were yelling at each other a lot, and surprisingly I ended up using very little of that content. The rest should go next chapter, I guess. There were definitely more things I wanted to say about this but I can't remember any of them…haha. I'll probably make a blog post about this at some point.**

**I think I have just decided to flip this entire thing around. Some things aren't going as they had been planned for **_**years**_**—but that's ok, because I think it's better this way. :D **

**Thank you so much for reading! Any criticism is **_**very**_** welcome. This story is still in its "I'm-figuring-this-out" stage, so I do expect to revise it in a million ways before the story is even finished, but if you notice anything odd, feel free to let me know. :) Thank you!**


	3. Procedure

**Chapter I Part II  
****Procedure. ("****Forfeit" by Chevelle)**

******February 17th, 2011 (222 HT) continued**

* * *

It was clear that he knew much more than he had initially pretended. He had only been trying to get her to confirm everything, or perhaps to pull her in to just expose her all along. She couldn't figure out a reason for that, other than to break her, but _still_ that wasn't even necessary, since they did know everything they did.

Their fatal flaw was, of course, seeming to _steadfastly_ believe that Luke had the Triforce of Wisdom. If she tried hard enough to make it seem like she was hiding it, then hopefully they would continue to believe that. But if they did find Luke, what would they do to him? She had faith in him, but she didn't know how they would "investigate" the Triforce. Would they cut him open? Interrogate him like they had interrogated her? Luke was clever. He wouldn't easily be caught in their intellectual traps as she had been, and she didn't think they'd be so stupid as to think it was something they could just extract from him.

She took a deep breath, her raging thoughts calming. She reminded herself that Queen Zelda was a rational person. She took a step back, finding her chair, and sat. Once again she carefully crossed her hands in her lap and held herself straight.

_Words_. _Find words_. "Though you believe you have uncovered some great scandal, be assured that you could do nothing with this false information. Not one of us will be harmed by it—Not I, nor Luke, nor Link, nor Meghan."

"Would you say the same things about your people?"

"You have nothing against us."

"A special division of ours is rather good at spreading propaganda. It doesn't matter whether it's true or not, even though we both know it is. The group can be persuasive. Can you afford this opprobrium?"

She couldn't deny that the Hylian people would probably be shocked if they thought there was something between Zelda and Link. The friendship between them was seen as an alliance fortified by years of fighting for Hyrule together, but known to be _firmly_ a friendship. The relationships of the country's King and Queen, and Link with Meghan, were also formidable counter evidence. At least she _thought_. Had they ever given evidence of either relationship faltering…?

And surely the Hylian people would understand that these people _would_ provide misinformation to gain something they wanted. They wouldn't believe it. Most Hylians at this point were adamantly against these invaders. _Surely_ they would understand.

She supposed what made her so livid was the fact that someone would even accuse them of this. On top of everything else, it was ludicrous. Her pride was hurt, but not even for herself. For Link. She knew Link. Link would never do such a thing, because he was a man of morals. Wouldn't everyone else see that, if they didn't already know it wholly?

"Your lies will be seen through. It is most likely not worth the effort. You cannot play this game around untruths."

"You could just bring the king here. Or just tell us where he can be found. It's simple. I will assure you again that no harm will come to him. "

"I will do no such thing. I don't even know where he is. And I don't believe you."

He sighed. "We're not monsters."

"I beg to differ."

He brought a new pile of papers from the table and again sat down across from her. He looked at her, as though thinking of what to say. His voice was low. "I understand that you want to protect the king. I'll explain to you exactly what we want to learn from him, so you aren't scared about it." He opened his free hand, palm up. "We're not here to hurt you. We haven't hurt anyone, and we're not about to start."

"Before you do explain, I would like to request _once again_, with _as much respect_ as you could possibly desire, to just leave Hyrule. What you want _cannot_ be found here. _I _can assure you that. You don't understand the Triforce like you think you do."

"I know, Zelda. That's why we're trying to learn more. Listen, I will put in your request, but I can't do anything about this right now. I am here under orders. You know that. And _I _will not run away from my country, or act as a traitor toward it." He said the last sentence as something of a jeer, directed toward her, with one of those no-bullshit-taking gazes that solidified the insinuation that _she_ had run away from her country and betrayed it.

"I have _never_ betrayed my country," she said gravely, the idea of it vile in her stomach. She could never betray Hyrule.

The pointed gaze continued. "We'll revisit that later." He ignored her newly conjured scowl and continued. "Now. _Zelda_. The procedure will be simple, not much more than something we go through at regular physician checkups. It'll just be different for him because—"

"Wait, _procedure_?" she cried.

"Yes, just some simple—"

"Uh, no! You will not _operate_ on Luke! You said you wouldn't harm him!"

"Your Majesty, it's very standard. He won't feel a thing! We have something called anesthesia—"

"I know what _anesthesia_ is," she said with venom. "But that does not _excuse_ this." The thought of Luke lying on an operating table, _unconscious_, while they did who-knew-what to him, made her want to retch and cry at the same time.

"Relax. It's very standard. Just a blood test. The only reason it's different is because…well, King Lukas is a Hylian. We can't draw blood from the outside. It's a bit confusing for our human physicians, but I believed they figured out we just need get inside his vasculature and draw the blood out from the inside."

Humans.

It was still so bizarre that they were here, that they knew these differences between the species that she had come to know. These strange disparities that came about as a result of gods' differing ideas, gods that it seemed he didn't even believe in. She felt as though they didn't even deserve to know about Hylians the way they did. Had she helped them gain this knowledge, knowledge that they were now using to try something inane, ill-conceived, and misinformed?

In a far wilder twist of fate, not only were these people humans, but they were from nowhere else but the _United States_. The very place Meghan had grown up, lived, loved, and learned. The very place she had told Zelda so much about, some paradoxical place that made big dreams possible, but not really. National pride with international indifference. Millions of people—and Zelda had truly found that hard to believe—_millions_. The necessary breadth of legalities had confounded Zelda.

Through some strange ambiguity in those laws and legislatures, she sat here now. Was she a victim of the system and whatever cruel loopholes it contained?

"But at this rate, we won't even ever find him. Which makes me curious," he said, leaning back slightly in his chair and tilting his head to the side. "Why was it fairly simple for us to find you, but we can't even find a decent lead on the king?"

She wanted to laugh then. She'd always known Luke was good at what he was meant to do. Luke's father had started schooling him to become a spy for the crown—as his father himself had been—when he was quite young. He had started in this very castle, secretly gathering information about Zelda for practice, at his father's request, and even learning to evade Impa's watchful eyes. And of course, being the Sheikah guardian of Zelda, Impa was rather the master of clandestine affairs and had taught Zelda everything she knew about being sly. So really, this whole situation was all just a giant circle of covert operatives, on both sides.

She and Link were just stuck outside the circle.

"If we're using your logic, it's because he has that very coveted Triforce of Wisdom. Right, Andrew?"

They exchanged amused smiles. "In that case, would it be safe to assume that we could never find Lukas?"

"You can assume that in _any_ case."

"Interesting. Well, that's a shame. We'll just have to resort to Plan B then."

"And what is 'Plan B?'" she asked curiously, and a little mockingly as her smile returned. Luke was safe, Luke was safe. There was nothing they could do to Luke, she told herself.

"Doing the procedure on Link," he said bluntly, using Link's name as though he _knew_ the boy.

She tried to hide the flipping in her stomach, the intense feeling of injustice picking at her bit by bit. She again had the thought that Link didn't deserve any of this. He was the one who had saved them repeatedly. He couldn't be used for their science experiments. Goddesses, this man knew how to get to her. He knew what he was doing, and she knew she was supposed to act upset and scared for Link.

Well, she was. She was terrified, because unlike Luke, Link was a sitting duck in that dungeon. In reality, he could probably get himself out, but he would _never_ leave without her. Whatever untested, unwarranted procedure they would perform sounded dangerous at best, and if they sedated Link or otherwise incapacitated him, he wouldn't even stand a chance at escaping before she could warn him.

"He must be the same as Lukas, right? I don't know where it came from. We tested the drinking water and soil and nothing was out of the ordinary. Ideally, questioning both of them would allow us to cross-check their answers so we could find a connection. It's probably better this way, Zelda," he said in what sounded like a reassuring and gentle voice. The _tone_ was nearly convincing, but the words quickly shot it down. "It's probably better that we don't do the procedure on the king anyway. Since he's the king."

"You were never planning to, were you?" She should just close her mouth then, not utter anything. Maybe then he would stop misleading her.

"We were, before we found out that Link was not Lukas. Then it seemed to make more sense this way, anyway."

Dear goddesses, he was spewing lies and deceiving information like a fountain! "You're so full of filthy lies! I know what you're doing. You're just saying that so I'll be more likely to tell you where Luke is. You're a _liar_."

"You can't claim to be telling the truth either," he countered.

"But this is _my_ country. I need to protect this place. You're just hopelessly trying to get something that you just do _not_ understand you will never get. Listen to me now. You cannot use whatever power of the Triforce you think you're using. You can't! It's not in the water, it's not in the food. _You_ are just purely _delusional_! Goddesses, if I didn't know exactly where you came from, I'd think you were some minion of Ganondorf, and he was coming straight back from the grave!"

She turned her head away to squeeze out an unwanted tear. She didn't know what to do. The Americans had _everything_ figured out, except for two colossal details about which they were horribly mislead. She could only hope, at that point, that those two details would ruin them. Luke didn't have a piece of the Triforce. And the Triforce would give them nothing.

He rubbed his face with his hand, and for a moment he looked exhausted. _Well, it must be positively exhausting to interrogate a young girl and force her to purposefully give false information, just to prove her wrong._

"All right, just one more thing, then we're done," he said, and followed that with a great and heavy sigh. "Just tell the truth, because it makes it easier for both of us." It seemed then was the time he would use his stack of papers that he had been holding in his lap for some time. He fingered them. "That girl Meghan. Tell me a little about her."

As though her stomach wasn't finished with its acrobatic routine, it responded again to this statement. "Why should I tell you anything more? I'm positive you already know everything important."

He sighed again. "I honestly hate doing this. I suppose I understand why you think we're monsters. But your incentive." He rolled his eyes. "He's sitting in that cell."

She was certain her nostrils were flaring. Not very royal or proper. But his ways were dirty, so she didn't feel it was necessary to act nobly before him. "What do you wish to know?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"Tell me how she came to be married to the hero. Tell me what kind of family she came from."

She looked about, her eyes roving the room. It was an open ended question, but she knew the answers well. "They…Meghan and Link met as Link was on his journey to save our country." She shrugged. "Something about them…she…she was the only person he could relate to. Both of them are rather different from the rest of us, for varying reasons." She took in a quiet breath. "He grew up without ever knowing his parents. She grew up knowing the love parents could give, but they were torn away from her." All the truth.

He nodded slowly, glancing down. "Take a look at this," he said quietly, handing her a paper.

As he handed it to her, her heart nearly stopped. She recognized it as it passed from his hand to hers, and her breaths grew shallow and panicked. She was staring at an all-too-familiar face, a school photo of Meghan that, according to the caption, had been taken in the beginning of her sophomore year of high school. It was clear and crisp, the details of her face displayed in high resolution. It was her old face, of course—more rounded and childish, a little extra weight around the sides, and most notably, no Hylian features. She restrained herself from tracing the face with her finger, so many memories flooding to her mind.

"This girl, whose name also happens to be Meghan, was reported missing from her home in New York in 2007. The photo was taken just a few months before. Now this," he held out another picture, which she barely had the nerve to collect from him, "is a candid photo of your Meghan Navi. The differences are obvious, yes, but the similarities are more striking."

She unconvincingly held the two photos side by side, as though comparing them. In the recent candid shot, Meghan was shown leaving the Castle Town School, presumably going home. Link was visible at her side, but was mostly cut out of the shot. She was smiling lightly, lugging her heavy bag of books, her eyes directed to the side, nearly to the camera.

She took a deep, silent breath. "While I understand why this is a rather unsettling find, I'm not sure what you are now trying to prove. Are you trying to say they're the same person? Clearly this cannot be so, since Meghan Navi is a Hylian and this other girl is a human. Neither could just magically turn into the other."

He shrugged, lowering his head. "Well, weird things happen here, I've come to realize. What did you say happened to Meghan Navi's parents?"

She looked up. "It was a terrible accident."

"Just tell the _truth_, Zelda," he said brusquely, humorlessly.

"I am telling the truth. That girl and Meghan are _not_ the same person."

"So then where is she? If she is not this human girl, then it wouldn't be a problem speaking to her. If she has nothing to hide."

"Why do you insist upon this? There is no way they could be the same. One is Hylian, one is human. One is here, one is there. I can't explain the similarities; it's all just a huge coincidence."

"Is she with Lukas?" he asked, ignoring her other statements. "If you and Link are together, would she be with Lukas?"

_Yes or no, yes or no? What is the answer?_ she cried to herself. _Tell the truth._ "She is not with Luke."

He looked at her for a moment, as though judging her statement, then nodded. "All right. I know she's just a girl, and it may seem like she doesn't play a big role in this, but she does. Even if it's just by association. She _is_ working with you Hylians. Zelda, I have an honest question. Do Hylians ever bleed?"

_What the hell?_ These were _not_ honest questions! She looked down. "Yes, some do. Very few." Something was dawning on her. Something they had to know.

"Thank you for informing me. I truly didn't know. With that bit of information, I'm afraid I'll have to confirm to you that we do indeed have Meghan Navi in our custody."

"What?" she cried. "That is absolutely impossible. There is no way you can have her. You need to let whoever it is you think you have _go_. You are _mistaken_."

He stood again, indicating to someone, and she had a feeling there had been guards somewhere in the room. "We ran DNA tests. She's not an exact match for Meghan Black, but the similarity is like that between siblings. I think the differences come from whatever transformation she underwent. She was subjected to some serious genetic alteration. It's astonishing, and we'd like to study that as well. I don't need to tell you the extent of genetic research going on. And we have an offer she cannot refuse."

And she was slowly melting. Her breaths slowed, her lips parted, her world spun. In her vertigo, she thought she might have become a compulsive liar within the last hour, because she threw her last ditch attempt to defy everything out in a tiny, barely audible voice. It was not Zelda's voice, by any stretch.

"After expecting me to not know what fingerprints are, you expect me to know what _that_ means?" she asked with a choke.

The tears filled her eyes. He stood behind his chair, his face stoic.

"Yes. I do. Now I _know_ you know exactly what that means."

* * *

**GASP NOW **_**YOU**_** KNOW.**

**Now it is time for me to do my BIG DISCLAIMER.**

_**Dear darling readers,**_

_**This story will be kinda political in nature. At the same time, it will not be because I basically know nothing about politics, so I will be generalizing and perhaps making weird things up in the process. Please know that the opinions of the characters…and basically opinions in the story, about the US, do ****not**** necessarily reflect those of the author. Lol any likeness to real persons is unintentional. I hope no one is offended, because I'll only be using generalizations to further the plot. **_

**Thanks for understanding!**

**Teehee, sorry if anything seems confusing now! Whoa I just realized it's August. LOL. Oops. Wow shiny things. Anyway, yeah. This chapter will make sense…later, if it doesn't now. ;) Also, sorry for the lack of description of Andrew. Truthfully, I can't make up my mind about him, because when I originally wrote this, he was supposed to be a youngish dude, maybe late twenties/early thirties, but as I was writing it now, I keep imagining him as an older, maybe 40s guy, with a beard. Why would he have a beard…? Teehee, I dunno. Very much like "William Riker" from Star Trek, if that's the right guy (I don't know too much about Star Trek, but my mom is a closet Trekkie so I guess I've seen enough of it).**

**Lalala too much to say! Real quick: this story is hard because unlike previous stories, I can't just make up facts about the US because it's real and all, so I have to do a lot of research. So if you find anything wrong feel free to tell me. :D**

**Also, are author notes in bold obnoxious? I always think they are, but I've always done it this way...XD**

**Thank you so much for reading!**


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